Art of lithographing



G- B. WEDOW.

ART OF LITHOGRAPHING.

APPLICATION H'LED FEB-1, 1921.

Patented May 16,1922.

' effect.

GUSTAV B. WEDOVV, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ART OF, LITIIOGRAPI-IING.

Application filed February 7', 1921.

T 0 all whom may concern Be it known that l, G'US'EAV B. l l nnow, acitizen of the United States, residing at 1718 North -llichmond Street,Chicago, in the county of Cook and FBtate of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in the Art of Lithographing, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the art of lithograpning andmore especially to the lithographing of mar-bled or mottled paper,parchment, cloth or other materials such as are used, for example, forlining of book cove s and similar purposes.

v re, in performing such marbleizing, or in lithographing of suchmarbleized or mottled effects it was necessary carefully to draw orotherwise prepareon the lithographic stone, zinc plate, or othermaterial r-e-d, a small design of the marbleized 0r mottled effectdesired. It was then neces sary to duplicate or repeat such design bycopying or by lithographic processes in order to prepare astone or zincplate of the desired size which would be entirely covered with thedesired marbleized or mottled It will be seen that "this processrequircda considerable amount of time and labor. In the first place, thepreparation of the small portion of the desired design in itself wasvery diricult requiring great care i and skill; and then toe duplicatingand repeating of this smallportion in order to obtain aplate of thedesired area required great skill, time and labor. In performing thisprocess it was a so diflicult to make the large area appear continuousand not divided by lines marking the l-in'iits of the small portionsfrom which it was made. It is obvious, of course, that it was possibleto prepare in the first instance a stone or plate of the desired areawith the desired effect by drawing or etching the design over the entiresurface; but it is also obvious that such a method would have requiredso much time, care and skill to make its use almost prohibitive.

By my improved method I am able to prepare very quickly, and at aminimum cost, a plate of Zinc or othermaterial with a beaut1- ful anddesirable marbleized or mottled effect over its entire surface so thatsuch plate may be used, by means of the ordinary and well knownlithographing processes, for printing on paper or other sheets thedesign on the plate.

Serial No. 443,038.

cheated by the line 2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a v fragmentary view of theplate used in carrying out my invention, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentaryview of a completed print.

In the practice of'my invention, 1 take a plate of zinc or othermaterial suitable for lithographing purposes such as indicated by 10and. wrap the same about a cylindrical roller 11. The plate 10 is heldin place on the roller by the bands 12 as shown; or it may be held inplace in any other desired manner. The edges of the plate 10 may also betacked to the roller if desired. The ends 0:": the roller 11 are reducedin diameter and ex tended as indicated by 14s, each extension havingmounted on its outer end a wheel.

I also provide flat shallow trough or tray rectangular in shape such asis indicated by 16. The tray 16 is suitably supported by legs 1'? andframing 18 and has mounted on its two sides the bracket rails or uides19 in which the wheels 15 are adaptedto roll. As shown in. F 2, it willbe noted that when the wheels 15 are in place in the grooves formed bythe guides 19 that the roller 11 will extend a. bout one-half way downinto the trough 16. l ll the trough 16 about onehalf full of water asindicated by 25. I then iioat on the water a very small amount of ink.Not enough ink is floated on the water to make complete layer of ink-Only enough ink is placed on the water to cause the ink to spread overthe surface in separated portions, to form a mottled effect. The exactamount of ink required may be found by experimentation and may be variedin order to varythe character of the design whieh it is wished toproduce. lit is this spreading of'the ink over the surface to give a.mottled or marbelized appearance which finally gives the mottled ormarbled final print through successive steps of the lithographingprocess. After enough ink has thus been floated on the water to give thedesired effect the roller 11 with the zinc plate 10 fastened on it isput in place as shown in the drawings with the wheels resting on therails 19. lit should be stated here that the water which was placed inthe trough 16 must be of just suilicient depth so that when the ink isfloated on its surface and the roller 11 is put in place, as stated, theplate 10 will just touch the ink floating on the surface of the water.It is obvious, of course. that the apparatus must be level and remainquiet. When the parts are thus arranged, the roller 11, as stated, isput in place atone end of the trough with the zinc plate 10 justtouching the ink floated on the surface of the water. The roller is thenrolled the length of the trough thus causing the plate 10 to roll overthe surface of the water bringing the entire area of the plate 10 intocontact with the ink floating on the surface of the water. It should bestated here also that the wheels 15 must be of the same diameter as theroller 11. so that as this rolling. process above described is car riedout there will be no friction between the surface of the plate 10 andthe surface of the water. As shown in the drawings, the thickness of theplate 10 may be disregarded; but it is obvious that if a thicker plateis used, the diameter of the wheels 15 should be equal to the diameterof the roller 11 extended through two thicknesses of the plate mountedthereon. It will be noted from the construction shown that where thewheels 15 are the same diameter as the roller 11 that the height of thewater inthe trough should be substantially the same as the level of thetracks upon which the wheels 15 roll; in order to make the plate 10 justcontact wit 1. the ink floating on the water.

The steps in the process described above by which the entire area of theplate is brought into contact with the ink floating on the water servesto transfer the ink to the plate thus producing on the plate a marbledor mottled effect similar to the appearance presented. by the inkfloating on the water.

After the ink has been put onto the plate, the plate prepared forprinting by any of the regular well known lithograpl'iic pro cess s. Aportion of the plate 10 as it appears after the ink has been put on itis shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 4c shows a part of a print, indicated by30, taken from such a plate by any common lithographic process.

I have described above one method of carrying out my invention, the mainfeatures of which are the forming of a mottled ink effect by floating asmall quantity of ink on water, and the transferring of this ink to alithographic plate by bringing the surface of the plate in contact withthe ink on the water. Such a disclosure is sufficient for anyone havinga knowledge of lithographing processes in general to fully understandand comprehend my invention and carry out the same. In performing theoperations described, however, it is obvious that, without detractingfrom the spirit of my invention, any of the steps in known lithographicprocesses may be used in conjunction with the same. For example, thesurface of the plate may be prepared in any suitable mannor by any well.known lithographic process before it is brought into contact with theink in order to make the ink more readily adhere to its surface; andafter the plate is removed it should be gummed up with a sponge andsolution of gum-arabic and water or otherwise prepared in order topartially solidify the ink and wash off the surplus water. It isobvious, however, that after the ink has been placed on the plate, thatthe plate may be prepared for printing by any other suitablelithographing process.

I have found that it is some times desirable in the practice of myinvention to make the ink a little bit thinner than that ordinarily usedin the well known processes of lithographing. Such thinning of the inkwill cause it to spread over the surface of the water more readily andgive abetter or more desirable mar-bled or mottled effect. I have alsofound that some times it is desirable to place in the water gum-arabicif it is found that the ink has a tendency to separate too much so thatthe proper mottled. or marbled effect is not obtained.

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, itis to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changestherefore in the construction and arrangement may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in theappended claim, in which it is my invention to claim all noveltyinherent in my invention as broadly as possible in view of the priorart.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In the art of lithographing, the process of producing a mottled ormarbled effect on a lithographic plate. which includes the floatin g ofa small quantity of printing material on-the surface of a liquid and thebringing of the surface of the plate into contact with such printingmaterial.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 1st day ofFebruary, 19:21.

GUSTAV B. VVEDOl V. [n s]

